The Death of a Dream

America is dead. Rest in peace. Unfortunately, that peace will not happen because the tolling bell signals the end of lofty ideals, of amazing accomplishments, of global leadership, and most importantly, of dreams. You may question my declaration of death, but let’s look at the facts.

Congress is more interested in professional athletes taking steroids than in passing laws or even making a budget. The Department of Justice will not enforce laws that have been properly passed. Our courts make judgments based on political ideology instead of the law. The President signs executive orders that have the effect of law. Government agencies have regulations that have the effect of law. And local governments are so intrusive that they go so far to dictate the size of a drink that a citizen can buy. Where is an American supposed to turn for relief? All of government is prescribing control over most Americans, and this control is choking us as a people and has killed America. I am not even sure of this country’s name any more because it cannot be called the UNITED States of America, since the Federal government has snubbed Arizona. My country is self-inflicted with the same problems that caused our ancestors to revolt against England. Where a government that didn’t understand and didn’t listen made laws and taxes for those that were not cared for. Once again, “Taxation without representation” should be a call to every patriot as America strives to redistribute hard-earned money and wastes much that it does not redistribute. Free people are hard to control. So our government has decided to take away our freedom. America is dead.

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The land of the free is not free. That is because it is hard to control a free people. Every government on earth derives the right to govern from their citizens. Granted, in some countries, the citizens do not willingly give up their freedom, and they are forced to accept the government. Every American gives up a portion of their freedom for the stability and order that our government provides through the establishment of laws. In exchange, we are supposed to be provided laws that do not impinge our freedom further and represent the needs and desires that are best for the nation. The attack on our freedom has been insidious and unrelenting, and the attack has come from within our very own borders. Our current government has forfeited it’s right to govern Americans through the establishment of laws and regulations that clearly focus on special interest groups that represent agendas that are not for the good of the entire country, are intrusive on every aspect of our freedom, and are not desired by a majority of the American citizens. Our Bill of Rights amends the Constitution to ensure the rights of Americans. The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights is the first for a reason; it covers four freedoms that our forefathers experienced either the loss of or suppression of in Europe or in America from English control. The freedom of Religion was so important to our forefathers that it is the very first part of the First Amendment… “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” And yet our government has passed laws demanding Christians take actions that are counter to their faith. Every American, regardless of faith, should be concerned with this chosen direction by our country. The most basic right to believe and act on those beliefs is being attacked. The Second Amendment gives Americans “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”, the intent of which is very clear. Yet the current government surreptitiously attempted to attack this right through the Fast and Furious operation, the ultimate goal of which was to attack the freedom to own firearms, and our executive branch that is trying to use international treaties to take our right of gun ownership away. Why should our own government attack our freedom? Is it to protect our country, or the government that has failed our country?

Is Congress responsible for this murder? Surely the responsibility does not rest solely on their shoulders, but yes, they are part of the disease. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 demands that Congress develop and approve a budget. We soon will not have had a budget passed for four years. Why? On face value, it didn’t hurt anything. The government continued to run, the Armed Services continued to operate, and the entitlements continued to flow. But the real impact of this inactivity was to build uncertainty. The business of business is to make money. Businesses base spending on facts, or projections based on facts, or statistics and are currently sitting on huge amounts of cash. Who would hire aviation mechanics to build planes, welders to build ships, or construction workers to build buildings based on something that may or may not be approved by a gridlocked Congress? This inaction driven by uncertainty trickles down to supporting industries, effectively causing unemployment and pushing the economy down. Once again, why? I contend that having no budget has made it possible for the government to spend OUR money on things that would not stand the light of scrutiny if an actual budget was debated and voted on. It protects Congress and the president from us to not have a budget, but why do they need to be protected from us? Time will tell.

The most important responsibility of Congress is that of making the laws of the United States. Article 1 of the Constitution give Congress the responsibility “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” But what of the regulations and executive orders that have the same effect of law. Federal executive departments and administrative agencies are supposed to write regulations to implement the authority of laws. Regulations and Executive Orders are supposed to be subordinate to laws, but both laws and regulations are enforceable. And so we have a crossfire on the people of America from all levels of government. Congress writes the laws; agencies write the regulations that implement the laws, but why are they enforceable if there is already a law? In other words, isn’t the law already enforceable? Is this further enforcement supposed to clarify the enforcement that was already in place by the legally enacted law? No. The agencies that many complain about such as the EPA are simply front men for Congress and do the bidding of Congress. Another aspect of the lawmaking of the Congress that defies the standards that this country was founded on is the fact that Congress exempts themselves from the very laws that they impose on the citizens, such as Obamacare or the laws against insider trading. (This has been changed, but the fact that members of Congress financially benefited while debating and legislating is the epitome of corruption and deceipt). There is no document that puts any part of the government above the law, and indeed the government should be held to the highest standards conceivable. Instead, we have dishonest and selfish self-appointed elites passing laws for citizens of much higher morals and ethics.

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America is dead. The crossfire on the Freedom of the American people also came from the executive branch of government, the president, and his cabinet departments. Executive orders, or proclamations, have the force of law but do not need to be approved by Congress. Executive orders are aimed at those inside government while proclamations are aimed at those outside government. We have recently had Executive orders and proclamations that defy laws properly passed by a marginally effective Congress in accordance with the Constitution. With more freedom gone, America is further strangled.

America is dead. The Justice Department’s mission, according to their website, is “to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” That sounds wonderful, but it is too bad that they fail miserably in this mission and have also led to America’s demise. They failed America in protecting, punishing, and delivering impartial administration of justice in a voter intimidation case, aiding voter fraud. They failed America in ensuring public safety by not enforcing immigration laws. They have failed in providing federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime by committing and supporting crime through the Fast and Furious operation. The Justice Department has failed in all missions. It has failed America.

America is dead. What can Americans do? Here are our choices. 1) We can accept it and live to serve the government such as it is. 2)We can immigrate to other countries where we can find more freedom. 3)We can build a new country. 4)We can find the cause of America’s death and try to revive the cadaver. Regardless of the current state of our government, choice one would be repugnant to most Americans. Choice two has already been reported as a choice that is being used by some, but most Americans either wouldn’t or couldn’t make that choice. Choice three requires revolution and a period of anarchy to completely tear down the country to build a new one, and most Americans do not want to take that course unless all is perceived to be lost already. So let’s look at choice four, to find the cause of death and fix it. I believe the cause of the death of America is very clear. Our federal government is rotten to the core, the state governments are just training camps for the federal level, and professional politicians are the nexus of the rot. Politics is a profession of compromise, and today’s professional politician has compromised everything at all levels to continue their career. The lack of leadership, integrity, morals, and honor in the name of compromise is truly astounding. They have compromised our freedom away, our hard earned money away, and are compromising our country away.

Every law, fee, tax, fine, regulation, and penalty enacted by these professional politicians represses our freedom. Why can’t there be tort reform passed by Congress? Because improving our laws is not the goal, which would help America. Our laws are being written by lawyers for lawyers. How many laws have been taken off the books in the last ten years? The fact that the federal government is acting against states that are trying to enforce duly-passed laws speaks volumes of the corruption and dysfunction at America’s highest levels. Americans must take action now if our country is to be revived. We must sack everyone in the executive branch, we must sack every professional politician in Congress, and we must hold the judicial branch strictly to it’s mission of interpreting the CONSTITUTIONALITY of laws. We must say “No More!” to corruption and dysfunction funded by our tax dollars. We must fight for every scrap of freedom to recover what we have lost and retain what little remains. We must not comply with laws that conflict with the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Silence implies approval. America is dead. We must act now before the carcass is picked clean by the vultures of our government.